CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 410, 2 May 1947, Page 18

CHRISTIANITY IN NEW ZEALAND

Sir--The reading of "Nabal’s" letter in your issue of April 18 made me ashamed of the way we have presented Christ to the world. He came to bring a new power to humanity so that the next step in the advance to perfec‘ion might be taken. Instead of manifesting this power we have stressed the negative side of His teaching, and to-day the average man thinks of the Church as an old lady who is upset about his pleasures-betting, racing and drinking A man would have a very different idea of the Church if his wife were healed of a serious malady by one of Christ's disciples. Psychologists are proving today that Christ’s teaching is entirely practical, if you desire health of mind and body. The trouble with our fasth is, not that we are asked to -believe what is untrue, but that we have not the faith to believe what is true-the power promised by the Mas’‘er to IHis disciples However there is a stirring amongst the dry bones and we may yet live to see the joy and the healing power of Christ in manifestation-REGINALD GARDINER (Havelock North).

Sir-yYour correspondent "‘Nabal’" is in error when he says: "Mr. Murray wishes me as a New Zealander to make

a start at re-creating Christianity." I did not say that. I quoted Professor Carr, who says that those whe believe Christianity to be the clue to our problems "must face the task of re-creating Christianity. before they can use it as a foundation on which to rebuild the world." Although, following Professor Carr’s words, I said that our spcial legislation might be regarded as a fair start at "re-creating" Christanity, I think it would be truer to say that since it cares for the aged, infirm, the sick, it re-orients part of what is prac.icable in Christian ethics. Christianity is a system of religious philosophy within a framework that embraces belief in the special creation of man in the Garden of Eden; the fall of man by sin therein; the selection by God of a Chosen People; the. history of the vicissitudes of that people including propietic promise of a Messiah and Redeemer; the Immactilate Conception and Virgin Birth; the crucifixion of Christ as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and the Resursection as a promise and portent of a life to come. Is a return to faith in this system necessary or desirable as a solvent of world problems? We must remember thai the present sorry plight of the world is the resultant of some hundreds of years during which so-called

Christian peoples have dominated world affairs. I say "so-called" because, while professing to accept and believe in the gospel of Christ, these nations have lived lives at brutal variance with it. "Nabal" says I must,answer the question as to what there is to put in place of Christianity. He partly answers the question by affirming our enlightened ability to master ourselves and our environment. Incidentally I do not agree with his definition of faith as meaning "believing in that which we know to be’ untrue." I would describe faith as "believing in that which it is impossible for anybody to prove to be true or untrue; such as belief in a Supreme Being who is a person-in the earthly meaning of that word." "Nabal" is right in stressing the importance of education. It would be a great step forward if all school classrooms and university lecture rooms had painted in large letters on the walls: "Naked we come into the world’and we can take nothing out." An education programme that emphasised our transitoriness and the inherent folly of the struggle for possessions would be prefereble to the "go-getter" incidence of much that has nassed for education.

J. MALTON

MURRAY

(Oamaru)

(Abridged.- Ed. )